Nine times have I come and commemorated this day, giving a little tidbit about the blog, maybe a state of affairs, and giving you, the reader, my genuine thanks. I have had many things to talk about, many anime to spotlight, many matches to analyze, and a slew of items to preview and review on two of my favorite interests, coupled here in what I have come to internally call "the chicken & waffle house of the internet". I've had more than a few pictures to share, fun nights live blogging, things that I've written that I've been happy about and others I've self-critiqued to no end (more than a few times, it was very same piece!). I've done things I never thought I'd do, like have a Twitter account or even a tumblr, even moonlight a time or two. I have wrestled about whether to write about this first or post "that other one" later; scrutinizing and proofreading a lengthy post or just a simple message multiple times over; have a free flow of thought one time and long, pondering sessions leading to just a few sentences others; and sometimes, maybe not a whole lot of time or resources to write and do what I've truly wanted to do or go with something.

Blogging, and writing in general, can be as enjoyable as it can be wracking on many levels and as in many ways. As freeing as it can be to write whatever you want in the environment of a self-maintained, self-edited form of prose, an even greater onus is on you to present it in as high a quality as possible, knowing how far to go with something and when to keep it brisk—knowing it is never an exact science and that not all cases are equal—and whether it is good or interesting enough to make people want to read what you've written or continue to do so. I started HardDoor with no delusion of grandeur or expectations of millions of readers per month and being on the tongues of every anime and boxing fan alike. Just having a blog with such a pairing would provide an uphill climb from the very start and maybe alienate some automatically. Still, I gladly accepted this self-perpetuated challenge and put my best foot forward in making it all work. In spite of that, through high times and more difficult or lean ones, to still see HD attract more readership than I ever expected or to unexpectedly find a post on the first page of a Google search or multiple images occupying spots at the top of an image search, is both very humbling and, frankly, quite sublime…

I know I have said "thank you" nine times before around this time and a number of times in other posts, and maybe it might sound rote and cliched, but as in real life (where I sometimes catch some flack for saying it as much, even for something little), I really genuinely mean it. That someone decided to take sliver of time out of their day to reading something you wrote, a screenshot you shared, or a thought divulged in a tweet, when they never needed to (to say nothing about sharing or commenting on it) is something I never take for granted or lightly.

I wish I could use every possible word in the dictionary or other languages show my gratitude to you, the reader, even for taking the time to read this. So…in this 458th post, for the tenth time (and many others to come), for this, one of a -very- few blogs that discusses about anime, boxing, and a little bit of randomness, and from depths of my heart...

Thank you for reading HardDoor!!

Very Sincerely,

HD

P.S.: Post dated at the exact time HardDoor went live, on June 26, 2006, at 7:57pm, though actually posted on June 28, circa 6:26pm. And in HD fashion, I wrote more than I thought I would, and reflective of a more recent one, it is posted as such. I could have just posted it under the latter timestamp, but it felt only natural in this regard… <;)